First Package to China!

Today we celebrated Gabriella's 5th birthday. We also sent Amaris' birthday package off as well.

Amaris will turn two in February on Mama's birthday.

Mama had a HUGE 40th birthday a couple years ago... the day our baby was born! On that day, I had purchased two panda bears... one for Amaris and one for her sister who we eventually named Annabella. Isn't God good?

Shopping therapy!

So excited to be getting ready to bless our littlest princess with her first gifts from Mama and Baba.

We are preparing Amaris gift package so that it will arrive on her birthday in February.

Until she comes home, Gabriella (jie jie) and I are shopping at our favorite store: Naartjie... hoping we are buying the right size for our little one. She will be in our arms at age 2 1/2. We have put her measurements on the wall... and, apparently she is smaller than 99/100 Chinese babies... so, we are betting on size 12-18 months size. But, I am pretty sure she could easily wear 6-9 month pants. Gabriella wore 3-6 month skirts at age 4.

Well, Actually, we were DTC on Jan. 10th

Got a second email about being DTC.

Due to some issues, we ended up being DTC on January 10, 2012.

Only a four day delay. I know God is working out our timing for some reason.

We are DTC!

What a great, great day... Jason and I have been fasting and praying for this next year... and, excitement is already in the air!

I got an email this afternoon from our adoption agency:

You are DTC!!!!!!

Marilyn

I posted on Facebook:

This means, all that laborious paperwork, countless hours of hustle and bustle everywhere, doctor's appointments, animal immunizations, marrriage and birth certificate ordering and re-ordering, hours or reading and adoption preparation, pages and pages of writing, the numerous Fed-Ex packages back and forth to our 3 agencies, all the notarizations, and multiple authentications in this state, other states, and at the national level, etc, etc... are done... well, until ANNABELLA's file is in our hands. Our DOSSIER is on its way to CHINA... we will have more paperwork once Annabella's file is in our hands, but we are excited for this news and next weeks news too.

I-800A Received!

Our I-800A was processed fairly quickly but took an additional 24 days for us to learn about the approval.

10/18/11 Sent off I-800A
10/25/11 Received text and email from USCIS, I-800A received
11/29/11 Family fingerprint date for I-800
12/07/11 I-800A, Approval to adopt 2 children from China
12/31/11 I-800A, Hardcopy approval received via snail mail

Today we celebrate our oldest child's birthday. Kai is turning 20 today. God always seems to send our adoption paperwork on special days. I love it!

It took 41 days from text/email receipt to approval, and then an additional 24 days to find out of the approval... Praising Jesus!

Christmas Update on Princess Amaris

This is our littlest princess...

Someone from her orphanage answered my gazillion questions just in time for Christmas. 12.22.2011

We received the update 12.24.2011

1. Is Nan Duo Duo living in the orphanage or in foster care?
She lives in the orphanage.

a.If she is in the orphanage, who is her primary care giver?
Her daily care taker is her primary care giver.

i.What room is she in?
She lives in a big room with around 20 children there together, and every child has his/her own small bed.

ii.Who are her favorite friends?
She loves all children living with her in the same room.

2. Has Nan Duo Duo been seen by the doctor for her CHD heart condition?
a.Does she have bluish color on her lips or on her fingernails?
Yes, she does.

b.Has she had any illnesses or hospitalizations lately?
Yes, she does. She hit the corner of the toy cabinet in the morning of December 20. Her forehead misfortune to scratch and she had been sent to the hospital for stitches.

c.Is she susceptible to colds, bronchitis, pneumonia, or ear infections?
Before she had her heart surgery she was very easier to catch colds, bronchitis and pneumonia. She was sending to the People's Liberation Army General Hospital of Guangzhou Military Command, Cardiac surgery ward during April 20, 2011 to May 9, 2011. She got her heart surgery on April 26, 2011. After her surgery, because of the weather changed, she caught colds and bronchitis, but the number has been less than before.

3. Do you have any information on the day she was found?
a.What was she wearing?
A white background of the bright-colored clothes.

b.Was anything with her?
No, she did not have anything with her.

c.Did she have a note?
No, she did not have.

4. How was Nan Duo Duo named?
a.What are the meanings of her names?
Nan, all children form Mao Nan all named last name Nan; Duo Duo is because all children come after 2010 all use reduplication words; we think Duo sounds very beautiful, so we named her Duo Duo.

5. How would you describe her personality?
a.Is she quite or more active?
She is a very active child.

b.Does she enjoy playing quite toys or running around and climbing on things?
She likes running around.

c.Does she laugh? Does she smile?
She does smile.

6. May we get updated measurements for Nan Duo Duo?
a.Height? 76.5 cm, 30.1 in
b.Weight? 10.5 kg, 23 lb.
c.Head measurement? 46 cm, 19.1 in
d.Shoe size? 12 cm, 4.7 in
e.Dress size?

7. May we request that you allow her hair to grow long?
Yes, we will allow her hair grow long.

2011年12月22日

Our Christmas Photo with Santa, 2011

We are just missing our littlest two princesses.

I-800A Approval

Today we received our I-800A Approval Notice that our family can adopt two little Chinese princesses.

I sent our 1-800A off on 10/18/2011 and received notification simultaneously via text and email on 10/25/2011.

Jason and I, and the two oldest boys got our biometric fingerprints done 11/29/2011. We did not walk in early; however, we were told if we came Tuesday-Thursday in the afternoon, we probably could have. We are on the west coast.

We were approved today, December 7, 2011, just 8 days after fingerprinting.

It took 41 days...

Annabella... this is YOUR Month!

While I have never seen Annabella's photo or file, I know she is from Nanning (or at least Guangxi), she is two and she has the label "developmental delay."

I believe I will know who she is this month.

I know God is faithful and He will put me in the right place at the right time... or, He will put YOU in the right place at the right time... and, somehow, her file will make it to my computer.


So, keep your eyes peeled... she's a pretty, little brown-eyed Chinese princess... our "gift" from God! Our beautiful little piece of grace... and part of her story somehow pertains to Nanning... we believe we are flying in and out of the Nanning airport and somehow she is meeting us there... she may be from another SWI in Guangxi or she may be from the Nanning SWI or foster care.

Another Emotional Day

As I wrote my inquiry specialist from our agency, my heart was broken... absolutely broken... I cried my eyes out... in just hours I had fallen in love with this little one. I wanted so much to hold her, love her and tell her Jesus loves her.

I think it was one of the hardest letters I have written, but I knew I had to release this little one to be in God's will and to receive His blessing. My blessing is coming.

Our agency is amazing. I would call Kathy my friend. But, it was hard after all that work I had done to share with Kathy that I wasn't locking this file... but instead, I was again giving another baby up. I shared with her what God had reminded me of. She was so sweet and understanding... which made it easier.

Kathy had interacted so long with me as we discussed the three girls and later just Mu Rong. She had 3 other families desperately wanting this little girls file, so I am hoping that I will help make yet another family happy today... I pray that Mu Rong will get a strong Christian family to call her own this next year.

I Prayed... He Spoke: "Be Still and Know that I am God!"

After gathering all the information on this little one from northern China... it was time to go to bed. I was physically and emotionally exhausted. I wasn't stressed... it had just been a long day.

I decided though to take a bath and pray... I thought I might be more successful staying awake to pray than crawling into my bed.

I prayed and asked God to show me His will. Show me His grace and favor. Show me His "gift" to us. I remember praying that I wanted more than anything to be in HIS will... even if it meant I wouldn't bring this little one, Mu Rong, home.

And then, He began to remind me of many things... one by one... but, they were shooting out fast. If I heard Him correctly, this is what my heart was hearing... it will be very interesting once we truly know who our "gift" is... did I hear the Lord correctly? did I listen to Him or did I hear what I wanted to hear? I am human... so, I don't know. But, I can tell you one thing, it seemed very, very real.

I showed you in a vision 18 years ago you would have two girls... you even knew their height.

When you see your clocks... it has been 11:11 for years.

After gathering your bags in the Nanning airport, you turned to exit... and there a clock greeted you... it was 11:11am. I told you then that your baby would come from Nanning.

I told you in Dec. 2010 that you would have a heart baby and a developmental delay baby and they would come through Wasatch (we were already with another agency though)

I put your family on hold with that agency for 6 months so that Amaris' file would be ready.

I told you in March when you locked Giselle's file with Wasatch that "you could have Giselle, but your blessing is in June."

I took you upstairs at the EXACT time, caused you to look at your computer at the EXACT time, when Rainbow Kids posted YOUR daughter. I allowed you to know through the sweating of your hands and the rapid heart beat that this was the one... even before you saw her picture. I gave you Nanette, which means "grace and favor" because that's what you prayed for. She was given YOUR birthday so Jason would know she truly was yours. And, of course, she was with the agency you weren't even with, the agency I told you, you would be with. She is your heart baby.

You have faithfully prayed with your friend for her daughter Juliana... that she and her husband would get her file. On Friday, when your friend felt her hope might be dashed, your heart fluttered. That was Me. You told her, "I feel excitement in the air." Then you prayed that if her agency didn't get her file that I would give her file to your agency on Monday. It was not a coincidence your agency got her file. I did that for you and your friend because of your faithfulness. I love you.

On Monday, when your agency sent you all their files they got from the shared list... and only one file came through... I permitted that. I wanted you to see Juliana's file first. I wanted you to know that she was brought back to your agency to be given to your friend.

Now, I am telling you this: "Be still and know that I am God... test me now in this that I might not move the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it."

Your baby is from Nanning. She is 2 (almost 3) and she will have the label of "developmental delay." She will be your "gift". Be still and know that I am God. She is coming in November 2011.

Well... what would YOU do? I don't know why these things have been shared with me with so much clarity. I don't think I have... in fact, I know I don't have, super fancy prayers... but, I know I have the faith of a child. I recently heard someone say that a child at the age of 3 believes that they will get 100% of what they ask for from their parents, assuming they have come from a loving home. But, by age 20, that same child will believe they will get about 20% of what they hope for. Someone recently came up to me after a bible study and said, "I don't mean for this to offend you, but you have the faith of a child... you truly believe that God can do anything." I didn't know how else to respond but with the truth... "Yes, I do!"

But even with my great faith, I wanted to say, "But God, I will trade my Nanning baby for this one... I already love her..." But, I know God's plan is better than my own. I have lost three others that I have loved as much as my own daughters... it was so very hard to lose Angela, Jessica and Gracie. But, they must not have been mine. Now, I have lost Mu Rong too.

I can tell you that God has truly been faithful in our journey to Amaris and Annabella and He truly has guided our steps. I don't have any doubts He isn't going to bring me Annabella... and, maybe she will come via you, your agency, a connection... I don't know. I wish I did, but that part has not been revealed.

I do know one thing for sure... God will show Himself faithful...

I Thought I Found Her

It's Nov. 1, 2011...

In my hands I hold the files of 3 absolutely adorable girls ranging in age from 10 months to 3 1/2 years old. I am in love.

I really didn't want to choose one... I wanted all 3. How could anyone choose from the three files I narrowed down. So, I let the doctors talk. And they did. I had 4 different doctors review the files and not one had much positive to say.

As I was doing my research, I learned that another family had actually looked for one of the files that was in my hands. They had sponsored her and wanted to bring her home. I would never want to be put in that position, so I immediately gave that file up... and all the doctor's reports that I had compiled. If that was their daughter, I was thrilled to pass her on. I would want someone to do the same for me.

I had labored for the last 18 hours over these files, emails, phone calls, and probably close to 100 emails back and forth to my agency inquiry specialist, Kathy Junk of Wasatch. It was a long day... and short night... but, I was now in love.

I had mapped out where Gabriella was from, Amaris, and then the 3 potential Annabella's. I graphed everyone's statistics... I checked meanings of names, birthdates, anything I could.

By midnight, I had narrowed it down to one. I thought I found her... I stayed up past 1am to gather everyone's thoughts, my thoughts, and the important info. from her file.

I already loved this little two year old. in less than 24 hours. For those of you who have paper-chased... you understand. For those reading that never have, there isn't a way to grasp it... so, it's okay to shrug your shoulders and go on to the next paragraph.

By this time, it didn't matter what any doctor or nanny said, she was ours.

But then... it was time to go to bed... it was time to ponder everything without the computer in front of me... it was time to pray.

The Eleventh Month of 2011

It's now 11/11.

For years, each time Jason and I go to bed, we notice that the clock says 11:11pm. It didn't mean anything for the first couple months... but, after that, we thought... what the heck?

Why is this happening? Are we creatures of habit? Is our clock broken? What is it? But, it started happening during the day too. And, it no longer mattered what clock we were looking at. That, was eleven years ago.

During a game night with our best friends on 08/08/08... I began to think, wouldn't it be cool to make each year... 09/09/09 a game night, 10/10/10 a game night, etc... but, then it dawned on me... there was actually going to be not only an 11/11, but an 11/11/11 soon.

It was then, that my heart felt that this month must mean something special. Something big is going to happen. It must... it has to. Will this be the month that we find our 3rd daughter from China?

I did discover not too long ago, that God did have a Bible verse with 11:11 in it that had quite a bit of meaning to our life. I never would have imagined that we would wait for our promised babies 16 and 18 years respectively, but we did. The Bible verse in the photo now pertains to me... though I don't think of myself as old, I am now barren due to surgery... and, beyond birthing a baby even if I hadn't had surgery... and, that is when God brought us our babies.

Authenticating Our Documents

This is our second time adopting... my first time to do all the paperwork. I wish I would have understood the authenticating process a little better BEFORE I ordered the birth and marriage certificates.

I didn't realize they needed to be authenticated in their state of origin... ugh!

So, shipping these documents back and forth reduced my number of Starbucks drinks to -2 this month... at $5 shipping per piece... shipping both ways USPS priority mail... to 3 different states is a bit upsetting. Not because of that price... that was a great deal... but, because I was required to ship them originally for $20 a piece.

Well, I sent them off to three states... two shipped today (Friday) and were back in my hands the next Wednesday. Not bad. Now I am waiting for the big stack from our home state. Sent Saturday... they should arrive soon.

Our I-800A was received!

This evening while I was working on one of Gabriella's scrapbooks, I received a text and email message simulataneously saying that our I-800A has been received.

Dear Applicant/Petitioner:

Your USCIS application/petition has been received and routed to the National Benefit Center for processing. Within 7 - 10 days by standard mail you will receive your official Receipt Notice (Form I-797) with your Receipt Number SIMXXXXXXXXXX.

Our I-800A is off to USCIS

We sent our I-800A off to USCIS.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

This was a long form with all of our personal information on it and our request to adopt two children.

We should hear from them in a week.

Homestudy Completed... Happy 18th Anniversary!

Today we celebrate two gifts...

Our NEW homestudy, with our new agency has been completed for us to adopt two little girls up to the age of 6. This homestudy took 48 days.

We have waited for Amaris for 18 years; but we got our first glimpse of her on June 20, 2011.

We have been looking for our "gift" for about 2 1/2 years now... we have found her several times, but at the wrong time... and, not always has she been under 6.

Today Jason and I celebrate 18 years of marriage. He is an amazing husband, daddy, and baba. I am so grateful to have married such a man of integrity.

Dream Vehicle Delivered!

In 2008, one of my girlfriends encouraged me to start writing my prayer requests down and those things that I am believing God for. So I did... and over that year, I saw God fulfill many of those requests. But, one of my requests took a few years to come to a final decision.

One of those items was my dream vehicle... since 2001, I had dreamed of the Toyota Sequoia, but as the years went on, my dream changed... to some sort of suburban, to an Escalade, then a Navigator, until finally I realized, that when I drove down the freeway, I was most drawn to the Infiniti QX56. As I did my research, it seemed to me that the identical car, but much more affordable version, was the Nissan Armada. I was sure we could eventually afford it, and so I began to consider: "it would do." With three driving teenagers, we needed another car... and I was happy to give up our 10 year Toyota Sienna.

It seemed like God was pushing open a door for us to purchase a new vehicle... we were having some unusual issues with the minivan because it was dying for no apparent reason. Jason suggested to take it to the local Pennzoil to get the oil changed. When I got there, they found that I had been driving with no oil. Weird... the oil monitor didn't register "no oil". I also purchased a new battery from Les Schwab. The van seemed to be good to go now, but it convinced my hubby that it was time to get a new vehicle for the family.

He asked me what I wanted. I told him that we could probably pay cash for the Nissan Armada but I really wanted the QX56. So, I was just going to wait it out. But within a few days, faith rose up inside me that it was time to get the vehicle... the QX56. I told Jason that I thought it was time. He said, "I already found you a few, which one do you want?" We looked at all of them, did some preliminary research on our own, and then decided on the one. It was beautiful, but it wasn't a black QX56, nor did it have 8 seats.

Because it was in the next state, he drove there to check it out. It was visually perfect... until he took it in to have Infiniti look at it. It just had too many things wrong with it. I wanted Jason and I to have God's perfect peace about this purchase, especially since I wasn't there. I told him not to buy it if he wasn't sure. When he received the report, he just wasn't sure. That was fine. My prayer was that Jason would know whether this vehicle was ours or not. It clearly wasn't. I would see him the next day and we would keep looking.

But, that night, I felt like God told me to Craigslist "Infiniti"... since this has happened to me a couple other times in my life, it was no longer a question of whether I should do that or not. Each time, God had specifically put me in the right place at the right time to receive the right blessing. I had to trust my gut that I really truly heard from the Lord. I searched again... black, 8 passenger QX56 had just come available that hour... I arranged for Jason to go see it. Ironically, coincidentally, or perhaps a Divine Positioning, what I call a God Wink, Jason happened to be in the city of sale, because he was already there to look at the other vehicle. Had he not been there, perhaps it would have been easier to sell the vehicle to another person.

Jason later confessed that he had been looking on Craigslist for months for a QX56, he just didn't want to tell me. But today, God had it waiting for us. After having Infiniti check out the vehicle, Jason returned the next Saturday, September 24, 2011 and bought the vehicle.

To our surprise, when I went to date my prayer journal that my dream vehicle had arrived, I saw that God had divinely orchestrated things so that this vehicle would be purchased 2 years after I had written my dream vehicle request out before God... and, when I had finalized it and truly told him what I wanted, He delivered it.

Coincidence or miraculous... if you have read our stories before... you KNOW we believe this is miraculous... God allowed us this purchase on 9.24.2011... two years to the day that I wrote what I was believing for.

God knows the desires of our heart and wants to grant them to us.

Some MORE New Wheels

Over the last few months, but more specifically since we received PA for Amaris, I have been looking for a triple stroller.

After much looking, I finally decided on a particular one that could seat 3 princesses... 2 in regular stroller seats and one in the back to sit or stand.

For some reason, I decided to look again on-line to contemplate the places to purchase it and to remind myself of it's ridiculous price. I have seen much more ridiculous prices, but this was ridiculous for a stroller.

I felt very strongly that God was directing me to "Craigslist" for this stroller. But, I thought it rather odd, because the stroller has only been on the market for a few months. But, I did what I felt was so strongly directed.

To my surprise, the very stroller I wanted was on Craigslist, just 20 minutes away... it had been taken out of the original box, but the tags were still on it and everything was in mint condition.

I shared my story of looking on-line earlier in the day. I also asked why she was selling her un-used stroller for 1/2 price... she was a nanny with a new job... and, therefore didn't need it after all.

God is our provider... and, His timing is perfect.

On this day, two years ago, I wrote down my desire for a particular castle bed in my prayer journal. A year later, EXACTLY, He gave me the castle bed. Read this story in in Gabriella's blog, SweetPrincessGabriella.blogspot.com. It's pretty amazing.

Two years ago, in the same prayer journal, on the same day, a few entries away from each other, I also wrote my dream vehicle down that I was speaking and believing for. Two years later, on the EXACT day of my original journal entry, the Lord answered my prayer. He gave me our new SUV, but that has it's own story.

Two new full sets of wheels in a day... September 24, 2011. Thank you Lord for your faithfulness.

An Unexpected Update

Sabrina, our Chinese liason for Wasatch (our placing agency) surprised us with two new photos and measurements on our baby Amaris. So exciting... I would like to see two little Chinese pigtails poke out of that hair shortly though. I had to ask this question though, "Is this my baby?" I didn't recognize her at all.